Thursday, April 24, 2003

The revelation that Britain's leading critic of the war against Iraq was on the payroll of Saddam Hussein has not attracted nearly the amount of attention in the United States as it deserves.

It's the equivalent of discovering that Howard Dean, Janeane Garofalo, and every self-absorbed signer of the Not in My Name petition received a half million dollars in cash and complimentary tickets to a Dixie Chicks concert directly from Iraqi Disinformation Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf.

Actually the only thing that will attract attention in the U.S. is a proven connection between Saddam and a familiar American name like Scott Peterson or Nipsy Russell.

Four blue folders, each stamped with the Iraqi eagle, lay inside. Opening the first, I happened upon George Galloway's letter nominating Fawaz Zureikat as his representative in Baghdad. Another folder contained a letter from Sir Edward Heath thanking the Iraqi representative in London for attending a luncheon in Salisbury.

Two more box files were labelled "Britain". Others were labelled "United States", "Security Council" and "France". Each appeared to contain all the appropriate documents that had crossed the desk of an Iraqi foreign minister.